It Says... I Say... And So

"It Says... I Say... And So," is a writing activity that targets the skills of making inferences and drawing conclusions.  It is also a way to provide scaffolding for students as it is needed.  It is usually done in a chart format, but as I have learned from my mentor-teachers, every activity has variations.  In the first box labeled "It Says," the students find information from the text to help them answer the question.  The next box, labeled "I Say," the students consider what they know about the information.  Finally, the next box labeled "And So," the students put together the information from the text with what they know, and then answer the question.

Since I'm so very dense when it comes to technology, I will not be using a chart format, seeing as I have no clue how I would go about putting one of those on here.  I will be using the It Says, I Say, And So method to answer one of the questions posed at the beginning of Chapter 5 in Content-Area Reading.  The question is: What is involved in designing a text lesson based on a B-D-A instructional format?

It Says...
When planning a lesson, there are a number of things to take into consideration.  First of these, is standards.  Depending on the school, it likely has a set of standards given by the state, district, or diocese that they must follow when teaching.  These standards are very important because they shape the way a teacher teaches the content.  The next item to consider is instructional goals.  What will the student need to know and be able to do?  What skills will the student need to know, what skills will the student learn, and what strategies will he or she need to complete the task?  It is also important to address the essential questions that will be asked or answered through this lesson.  Next, instructional strategies, activities, materials, and resources must be taken into consideration.  Finally, what assessment tools will be needed to evaluate student learning?

What is B-D-A Instructional Format?  B-D-A stands for Before, During, and After, and the idea of this concept is to consider what the teacher does before the reading assignment, during the reading assignment, and after the reading assignment.  This framework can help teachers incorporate instructional strategies and activity into lessons involving content and literacy.  Before-Reading activities often emphasize motivation in readers, building and activating prior knowledge, introducing key vocabulary and concepts, and developing metacognitive awareness of task demands of assignments.  During-Reading activities include such things as writing unknown definitions, the use of study buddies, cooperative reading groups, and list-making.  Finally, After-Reading activities springboards the students in to a thinking process in which they form a basis for discussing and articulating ideas developed through the reading.  They also create a structure that refines emerging concepts.

I Say...
Based on my experience creating lesson plans, I know how important it is to incorporate some sort of B-D-A instructional planning into the lesson.  That being said, I have never heard it referred to B-D-A planning until reading this chapter.  I wish I had read this prior to creating lesson plans for my last field experience.  It would have make teaching about the prophet Jeremiah from the Old Testament much easier!  I also realize how important the Before-Reading aspect of this strategy is, especially teaching religion.  There are a lot of dense reading materials in my content-area, and it's important students know and understand certain terms and concepts prior to reading them in order to grasp the big picture of the text.  I also understand the necessity of a good lesson plan in order to have students move to the level of comprehension and deeper thinking.

And So...
Putting together the information from the text and what I know about the information, I am convinced that using B-D-A Instructional Framework is an essential way of getting students to the level of articulation of the important ideas of the text.  It is also vital that the teacher has a good lesson plan that implements every step of this framework if he or she hopes to have the students develop into the kind of thinkers they need to be.  In my particular content-area, religion, there are a lot of issues and concepts that will go unanswered.  This will likely be frustrating to some students.  If I am able to implement this strategy into my lessons well, they may walk away able to ask the important questions that arise with difficult concepts in the subject.

Take Home Lessons for the Day:
1. The "It Says, I Say, And So" activity is a great way for students to really think about the text they are reading.
2. B-D-A Instructional Framework is a great lesson plan implementation to use to help students become active readers and provides great scaffolding for students to begin to take responsibility for their reading.
3. It's my mom's birthday today!  Happy Birthday Mom!

Textbooks vs. Trade Books

Aah yes, the age-old dilemma of textbooks.  Are they out-dated?  Are they even helpful?  Do students even read them?  Depending on the teacher, students, and actual textbook, the answer could be yes or no.

What's wrong with textbooks?  If you're like me, you enjoy reading from a textbook.  It often contains well-organized information that serves as a primary source of the teacher's lessons and tests.  But most people aren't like me.  Most students will find textbooks boring, confusing, and generally written at a higher reading level than the intended audience.  Another problem arises when you think of how frequently information changes from year to year.  Most textbooks that are in schools today probably have or will have a newer edition by next year.  That being said, most schools are on a cycle of approximately 5-7 years before they have the funding to buy new textbooks!  (Imagine getting a brand new textbook the year before we figured out the earth wasn't flat.  Now you have this textbook with false scientific information.  Can you take anything in it seriously anymore?)  Ok, enough hating on the textbooks, after all we all had to have learned SOMETHING from them at some point.

What is a trade book?  That was exactly my question when I began reading Chapter 11 of, Content-Area Reading for this week.  It turns out, we all have likely used these at some point in our educational lives.  A trade book is a book that is "rich in narrative and informational content, [and] can provide a valuable compliment to most textbooks" (Vacca, Vacca, Mraz 360).  They can be nonfiction books, picture books, fiction books, and many other types of books.  The advantage to trade books as opposed to textbooks, is that students have the opportunity to explore a multitude of different texts in a number of different genres, and in any content-area you can think of.  For teachers, using trade books pushes their students to go beyond the typical textbook skimming that, let's face it, all students do at some point.  It can challenge students to think stimulatingly about a large range of important issues happening in the world today.  It is also a way to differentiate instruction, so that all students' learning needs are met, whatever level they may be at.

How can I implement trade books in my classroom?  The possibilities are endless!  Being a future religion teacher, I turn to the teaching of scripture as an example.  As my mentor-teacher, Martha Boerschlein-Tracy told me last semester, "If we're going to be studying Scripture, we're reading the Bible! We aren't going to use a textbook to learn Scripture."  This is so true, and it's a great example of a trade book!  Instead of learning about the Old Testament stories as summaries from textbooks, why not read it from the source, and discuss and analyze it as a class?  Another example would be if we were to be learning about some of the early Christian martyrs.  Why learn about Polycarp, Ignatius of Antioch, and James the Just from a textbook, when all of them have writings of their own that can be read?

It's important to note that this chapter wasn't in any way dismissing the need for textbooks in our classrooms.  Textbooks DO have a proper role in education, and they are certainly necessary to learn certain things.  The goal of the chapter was to give teachers motivation and encouragement to move beyond the textbooks at times, to enrich their curriculum, and further the critical reading and thinking of students.

Take Home Lessons of the Day:
1. I still love my textbooks.
2. Trade books are a great way to explore further topics within content-areas.
3. There are MANY different kinds of trade books.
4. We should not do away with textbooks altogether.  They have a time and a place.
5. I really enjoy finding pictures to post on my blog!
6. Happy Fat Tuesday!  Remember, it's Ash Wednesday tomorrow, the beginning of the joyous season   of Lent!  (No, that's not sarcasm.  It really is referred to as the joyous season of Lent!)

One more picture!

Are Portfolios an Effective Way of Assessing Students' Knowledge and Progress?

The journal entry this week is in response to Chapter 4 of Content-Area Reading, titled: "Assessing Students and Texts."

Portfolios

PORTFOLIOS.  It's a dreaded word by most students in today's classrooms.  In high school, our mathematics teachers required us to complete a portfolio by the end of each semester.  It was a compilation of certain assignments, tests, quizzes, and reflections/applications of things we had learned throughout the semester.  The common response to these portfolios from students was, "This is math class, why do we need to do all of this writing?"  I too (at the time) felt this was an unnecessary way to assess what we had learned in math.  Not to mention how much of a pain in the butt it was!

After much more schooling experience, many teacher education classes, and especially after reading this chapter, I have become almost convinced that a portfolio is one of the most effective ways of assessing students.  In the American Education System, where standardized tests have become so commonplace, it gives them a make-or-break mentality for most schools and students.  Even so, it has become something that all students expect, whether they like it or not.  The great thing about portfolios as opposed to standardized testing is that "Portfolios are vehicles of ongoing assessment.  They are composed of purposeful collections that examine achievement, effort, improvement, and most important, processes" (Vacca, Vacca, and Mraz 98).  It's a collaborative assessment that can be used as a method of tracking true progress of students, as opposed to a standardized test once a year.

Standardized Testing

For my future classroom especially, I feel that portfolios will be helpful to assessing student achievement and progress in the subject of religion.  With a content-area that doesn't have a standardized test issued by the state or federal government, it gives much more leeway as to how I am able to assess my students.  Another great thing about this type of assessment, as pointed out by the authors, is that they are an authentic form of "assessment that measures the process of the construction of meaning.  The students make choices about what to include; these choices in turn encourage self-reflection on their own development, their own evaluation of their learning, and personal goal setting.  Advantages of portfolios are more easily visualized when compared with traditional assessment practices" (Vacca, Vacca, and Mraz 99).

After reading this chapter, I personally feel that portfolios are an excellent alternative to traditional forms of testing student knowledge and progress.  I think there are many benefits that can come from portfolios, many of which prepare students for college and even life beyond the classroom.  I mean how many times have you filled out a sheet of bubbles outside of a school setting.  I would guess very few to none.

Take-Home Lessons of the Day:
1. Portfolios are a great alternative to the traditional forms of testing students.
2. Nobody likes to fill in bubbles.
3. If you are a future student of mine, you will likely be making a portfolio for my class.
4. Happy Valentine's Day!
5. Happy Feast Day of St. Cyril of Methodius!

"Faith. Academics. Service."

"Over the last half-century, the number of Catholic schools has fallen to 7,000 from about 13,000, and their enrollment to barely two million children from more than five million. A disproportionate share of the damage has come in big cities.

So when a landmark topples as Rice did — and as Cardinal Dougherty High School did in Philadelphia last year, and as Daniel Murphy High School did in Los Angeles two years before that — it ought to provoke more than sentimentality or tears. It ought to sound an alarm about a slow-motion crisis in American education."

This is just a snippet of an article called, As Catholic Schools Close in Major Cities, the Need Only Grows.  It points out the declining rate of Catholic Schools in America's largest cities.  This is a great article to read the week after National Catholic Schools Week.  The motto for this year's celebration was: "Faith. Academics. Service."  After attending Catholic schools for over 15 years, I can't say enough about how the combination of faith, academics, and service has shaped me into the person (and future religion teacher) I have become.  I hope we see a reverse trend in the number of Catholic schools and students very soon!

Full Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04religion.html?_r=1&ref=catholicschools

Reader Response Journal #1

The journal this week will be in response to the opening chapter in Content-Area Reading (titled, Literacy Matters), and the opening chapter in Content-Area Writing (titled, Writing in the Content Areas).  I really enjoyed reading these two chapters, especially the latter, because they expressed the topics and information in a way that is easy and enjoyable to read.  I particularly like the mock conversation between the three authors and a typical content-area teacher.  The opening line of the teacher reads: "So, I really have to have my students write?"  OF COURSE!  I realize the authors were using this as an extreme example, but as a student I have taken the occasional class that I simply did not have any writing to complete.  (Middle school math classes come to mind).  The reality is that ALL teachers need to require critical writing in their subjects.  Not only does it help students become more actively engaged in the subject matter, it gives them a sense of responsibility to their learning process.

When I look particularly at my own content-area, I don't see too much difficulty in finding time to read and write in the class.  Unlike mathematics or science, theology requires a very large amount of reading and writing.  That being said, theology requires that the student be actively and critically engaged in both.  Look at scriptural or Biblical readings, for example.  There are a couple different approaches theologians can take when reading scripture: literal interpretations and contextual interpretations.  Literal interpretation (most often associated with the fundamentalist and evangelical movements) typically means that you take the text to mean exactly what it says.  A good example would be the book of Jonah.  A literal interpreter may believe that Jonah really did live in the belly of a "great fish" for three days. (Did you know the Bible never mentions the word, whale?  There's your fun fact for the day!).  One who reads scripture contextually, on the other hand, believes that there are multiple ways to interpret the text, and they recognize that often the authors used such stories for effect.  As you can see, these two approaches can be both helpful and harmful in certain situation, because they can account for radically different ideas.

 After reading those explanations, you can probably see the importance of teaching students to read critically and differently from subject to subject.  A teacher shouldn't expect a student to sit down with a psychological research study and read it the same way he or she would read a Jane Austen novel.  One golden rule for me in my classroom will be: ASK QUESTIONS!  From the very first day of class I will stress the importance of question asking when reading theological material.  Questions before, during, and after completing the reading is essential to understand and grapple with the text.  One of my professors last year told us, "If the margins of your book aren't filled with penciled-in questions and observations, you aren't reading critically, and you won't get anything out of it."  Now, I am not going to suggest writing in textbooks because that is generally frowned upon in a high school setting, but you get the picture.

I hope the future readings are as stimulating as these were, because as you can tell I get pretty into these kinds of discussions.

Take-Home Lessons for the Day:
1. Ask questions!
2. Unless you own the book/textbook, don't write in them! That's vandalism!
3. Jonah did not live in the belly of a whale for three days. Sorry...

Until next week...

New Post Tonight!

Be on the lookout for my first Reader Response journal later today!  I may not get to it until tonight, but I can guarantee it will be up by midnight.

Welcome!

Welcome!  You are reading my first professional blog, created as an assignment for a teacher education training course.  The course is titled: Reading for the 5-12 Teacher, and my main goal for this blog is to post assignments for this class.  The assignments will be Reader Response Journals in response to certain selections from the two textbooks for the class, Content-Area Reading, and Content-Area Writing. 

I also hope to publish other fun and interesting things I find on the blogosphere related to the Theology and Education professions.  As a Catholic Studies minor, I will post some things related to that field as well.  I hope you enjoy!